Authors: Dem Mikhaylov
As a rule the mill was empty that season, the boys were not afraid of being seen by anyone, but just in case they looked around and, after making sure that there was nobody around, started unwrapping the bundle they brought.
As soon as they removed several layers of the rough cloth, a sharp smell of disgusting stench hit their noses.
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Oh – Flatis groaned, wiping off tears by the sleeve of his shirt and covering the nose with his palm – It smells great. The host will be happy.
Lery said nothing – he was suffering from vomiting again bending over bushes to get rid of the substantial dinner with indistinct bleating.
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Come on, Lery – Flatis said nasally as he was squeezing his nose by his fingers – Wait a bit, we’ll finish soon.
Lery murmured something absolutely indistinct as a reply, then wiped off the dirty face by leaves and turned to Flatis:
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Come on! Throw it into water!
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Just a moment – Flatis stopped his hasty friend – First we should call the host and then give him the treat. We can ask him to send rain only when he takes the treat.
Flatis leaned over the water and slapped the surface several times, then waited a bit and repeated. Holding their breath, the boys were waiting for the huge catfish to appear. But the catfish didn’t come to the surface in a minute, not even in two minutes… Water lilies were slightly shaking on the still water. The bottom lit by bright beams of the sun was empty and lifeless. The host didn’t come out to the call.
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He must be really offended – Lery whispered peering into the water.
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Sure, he did get offended! – Flatis nodded – Can you imagine no one treated him for half a year and cared about him? Anyone would get offended!
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What shall we do? – the dark-haired Lery asked, as usual he was waiting for Flatis to make a decision.
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Let’s call him again!
Flatis slapped the water. He was more successful that time – the water in the middle of the hammer-pond started greatly and big circles rolled to the banks.
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He heard us – Lery exclaimed with excitement – Flatis, do it again!
Slaps sounded over the hammer-pond again and again. The boys stared at the bottom that could be seen through the water thickness. But the catfish wasn’t rushing to appear, although the vibration in the middle of the hammer-pond was increasing.
Flatis was intensively looking at the edge of the water at the bank and he didn’t like what he saw. The only thing moving that he could see was long strings of algae.
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Lery, have a look – there is no miserable fish, not even whitebait – he touched the friend’s shoulder.
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But it’s very hot – Lery declared knowingly – Fish usually hides in deep places. And you call yourself a fisherman!
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I’ve been fishing longer than you! – Flatis got in rage – I’ve never come home with an empty bucket! Have a look! Even frogs have disappeared!
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I’ll tell you again – that’s because of the heat! – Lery shrugged his shoulders and pulled off the shirt to stay in the mended pants only – All the living creatures are sleeping. As well as the host! I’ll wake him up! Don’t worry!
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Are you going to dive? – Flatis guessed
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Yup. I’ll check him and swim a bit.
Lery’s toes touched the water. And a happy smile spread on his face:
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The water is nice. And you? Let’s go!
Flatis sighed and did what his friend advised – he put down the pot with the odorous mess on the grass and took off his shirt. Lery decided not to wait for him. He yelled and jumped into the water to his neck-level.
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Come on! Jump!
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It’s not easy – Flatis grumbled and started entering the water carefully carrying the pot with the treat in both hands.
Lery burst out laughing while looking at the friend. Then he rolled to the stomach and swam towards the center of the hammer-pond - it was the place where the catfish usually waited till the end of the midday heat. Flatis, who had to keep the clay pot closer to his chest, looked at Lery enviously and went on stepping into the water carefully – ‘Like a little girl!’ – it occurred to him.
Reaching the center of the hammer-pond, Lery started spinning around to peer into the depth but he couldn’t see the bottom as the sun beams couldn’t pierce the thickness of the muddy water and there was absolute darkness below.
Lery threw away a wet lock of the hair from his forehead, then turned to the procrastinating friend and shouted:
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Hey! Are you still there?
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Can’t you see?! – Flatis snapped, he was standing in the water at the chest-level – Do you think I can swim with this pot?
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Alright. Stay there – Lery replied – I’ll call him. But when the host appears, don’t waste time!
Flatis was enviously looking at Lery who inhaled deeply and dove. The water surface covered the boy’s head and got still. Flatis switched from one foot to another glaring at the center of the pond – it was the place where Lery’s wet head would emerge. Several seconds passed but Lery wasn’t seen anywhere. When, according to Flatis calculations, Lery was under water for one minute, he started worrying indeed – generally ten seconds was enough to reach the bottom and to find the catfish sleeping quietly in the ooze.
‘He must be kidding’ - Flatis thought, but he couldn’t get rid of anxiety. There were too many strange things that he had noticed at the hammer-pond – the host hadn’t come despite they were calling him; all the frogs and fish had disappeared. Even black glowing bugs that lived in sparkling bubbles attached to algae couldn’t be seen anywhere.
Flatis was getting more and more worried. He needed three leaps to reach the bank, then put down the pot on the ground again and hurried into the water as fast as he could.
‘Oh, Lery! If it’s a stupid joke, I’ll beat you like hell!’ – he thought while swimming fast to the middle of the pond.
He was about to reach the center when the water boiled and a pillar of splatters suddenly rose into the air. A silhouette of Lery flashed inside it. Flatis saw a grimace of fear on his face and rolled out eyes. At once he understood that Lery wasn’t mocking at him – something bad did happen.
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Fl… Flatis – Lery could hardly say, spitting water out of his mouth – the host…
Lery didn’t finish speaking – one more pillar of foam rose into the air, a black shadow glimpsed at the bottom. Lery raised his hands and disappeared under the water with a muffled sob.
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Lery! – frightened Flatis yelled – It’s not funny!
He needed two strokes to swim up to the spot where his friend disappeared. Flatis inhaled fast as much air as he could and dove. He opened his eyes under water and started spinning around in attempt to see Lery who was obviously mocking at him. But the only thing he could see was the greenish thickness of water. Suddenly Flatis noticed a blurry shadow below, he decisively dove deeper to look closer at the strange object on the bottom. A fast thought came to his mind: ‘It can be a cramp, if only I could bring him out…’ and then he saw it…
Frozen eyes of the giant catfish were staring at him from a muddy cloud of the raised ooze – there wasn’t a sight of the gigantic body of the fish, just the head with a shaking collar of shapeless shreds of pale meat was left. It looked like as if somebody had sawed the head off the body and had thrown it away as a useless thing with negligence.
The ancient host of the deep water was dead.
At last frozen Flatis realized what exactly he was looking at, he forgot that he was under water and yelled soundlessly with a wild terror exhaling bubbles of air. Moving his hands and legs as fast as he could, Flatis darted upwards to the sunshine far away from the nightmare he had just witnessed. His head broke through the water surface. He started gulping the air and turning his head around again and again to find Lery, but the water surface was empty and lifeless. Lery wasn’t able to reach the bank in one minute and Flatis understood that his friend was still under water, on the bottom. Inhaling air again, he dove and opened his eyes widely trying to find the friend. Finally he succeeded – in some yards he noticed a shadow struggling furiously at the bottom. Breaking through long catching algae, Flatis directed towards the shadow. And as soon as he was close enough to see the shadow distinctly, he hardly resisted one more scream of terror. Flatis was right. It was Lery who was trying to get his leg free that was squeezed in the jaws of the most frightening creature Flatis had ever seen. It partially resembled fish. The black body in the shape of a spindle was crowned with a head with long narrow jaws and teeth protruding in different directions that were squeezing the boy’s leg like a clamp. The fish got frozen on the bottom waiting when the prey was suffocated because of the lack of air and stopped trying to escape. Noticing a new movement, it turned the head in a threatening manner and lazily waved its tail as if it was warning the visitor – don’t touch, it’s mine.
When Lery saw Flatis who was hovering over him, he opened his mouth to scream something but just spent the remains of precious air – Flatis came to the consciousness and did the only thing he could do. He needed one fast movement to reach Lery. But he decided not to waste time trying to unclasp the sharp-teethed jaw – he took the aim and suddenly poked his thumb into one of the eyes staring at him. Flatis felt slimy mess getting pressed under his thumb and pierced it further. It worked. The fish started with pain, opened the jaw and jerked aside, raising a huge cloud of black ooze from the bottom.
Lery was free but he had almost lost his consciousness because of the lack of air. Besides, a cloudlet of blood was wrapping his leg.
Flatis felt that his lungs were burning, rainbow circles were floating in front of his eyes but he didn’t give up. He grabbed Lery’s hair tight and pushed himself from the bottom dragging the exhausted friend up to the surface. The light above their heads became brighter and brighter. Finally Flatis came up to the surface. He inhaled deeply and started coughing. In a moment Lery emerged from the water gulping life giving air by his blue lips and sobbing.
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Oh my god… what’s the hell… what was it? What a beast! – he could hardly say, holding on Flatis’s shoulder.
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Swim to the bank! – Flatis cried out as soon as he recovered his breath – Faster!
The horrible injured fish was thrashing about in the deep water below them and it wasn’t a good idea to procrastinate in the pond. The monster that had intruded the mill hammer-pond was injured but not defeated.
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Come on! – Flatis rushed Lery who was swimming slowly – Hurry up!
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I can’t. I can’t control my hands – Lery murmured swallowing water – And… and my leg.
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Swim to the bank! It’s not far away.
It was true. There was a dozen of yards left to cover to reach the bank. But it seemed to be very far away. Flatis looked back in panic to search for the fish, but the water surface was still. Flatis didn’t relieve as the monster that tried to kill Lery could be straight below them waiting for the appropriate moment to attack – to close its jaws in a fatal capture.
Rushing and pushing slow Lery, Flatis had covered about two yards when he felt some movement of water under his feet and got frozen with terror. The sharp-teethed beast was back, but the bank was still far away. The decision came up suddenly. Flatis patted Lery’s shoulder who was hardly floating on the water and cried out:
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Swim to the bank! Don’t stop!
Exhausted Lery didn’t object. He nodded and kept on moving. The terrified boy was shivering. The blue lips looked bright on the pale face as well as the black spots of the eyes, that were wide because of horror. They were fixed on one thing – the edge of the bank that was approaching unbearably slowly. Flatis remained on the same place. He lowered his face in the water to find the terrible fish. The boy relied on his agility and ability to swim fast – he wanted to divert the predatory fish’s attention to let Lery get out to the bank and then try to reach the bank himself. Flatis had seen that the fish didn’t have any limbs. He hoped that it wouldn’t be able to get out to the ground.
Wiggling his legs as fast as he could, Flatis started spinning around at one place and looking below. He hoped to notice a shadow of the predatory fish approaching him.
Flatis’s plan was almost ideal – he managed to divert the fish’s attention but he hadn’t expected that the monster was so fast. It was too late when the boy noticed the dark shadow swimming closer to him. There was one yard left between them. Suddenly Flatis felt a burning hit on his chest and yelled with an unbearable pain. Flatis couldn’t know that he was lucky indeed – the beast, that had just one eye that could see, didn’t manage to focus precisely and missed the target. The huge jaws caught empty water, but the spindle-like body entirely covered with sharp thorns scratched the boy’s body like a gigantic saw shredding his flesh apart.